A few weeks ago, the city of Cheyenne was courting a company. The advantages that businesses consider — transportation, cost of living and infrastructure — were all sufficiently appealing. However, the company eventually pulled out, citing one reason: Wyoming’s capital city didn’t have the workforce.

The Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States Index ranked the economies of the 50 states since the beginning and the end of the recession: 2007 and 2009, respectively.

The index considers home values, employment and income as well as the stock prices of state companies.

Aside from a Bloomberg columnist’s tongue-in-cheek reference to Wyomingites as Wyomans, the details of the index will ring true to most in the state.

“Wyoming has a lot of strengths, and our natural resources obviously is at the top of that list,” said Randy Bruns, CEO of Cheyenne LEADS, an economic development organization. “But population, or the lack thereof, definitely presents some real challenges to us in diversifying the economy.”

In recent years the downturn in oil, gas and coal has had a devastating effect on the state’s revenue. Taxes from those sectors provide the lion’s share of the state budget. Lawmakers made widespread cuts last year as a result of the downturn. Further reductions followed the session, and recently Gov. Matt Mead warned of the likelihood of further declines in revenue for years to come.

However, the Bloomberg index shows the importance of metropolitan areas to overall economic health. As in the case of the company that ditched Cheyenne for northern Colorado, workforce is a big part of the challenge for Wyoming, said Anja Bendel, director of business development for LEADS.

“It comes down to a sheer numbers factor,” she said. “When you look at what our unemployment rate is and you figure out how many people that means, you’re just talking about 2,000 people in the greater Cheyenne community that are actively seeking work, and Cheyenne is the largest city in the state.”

Demographics also challenge Wyoming.

“The trend that is happening in a lot of metropolitan areas is their populations are starting to turn around and get younger, while rural populations (like those of Wyoming) continue to age,” Bruns said.

It’s also about the appeal of city living and amenities.

About 20 percent of Cheyenne’s labor force lives in the two Colorado counties across the border, where cities like Fort Collins offer the lifestyle that many young professionals desire, he added.

Of course, the people of Wyoming are likely to say they prefer to avoid crowded areas in favor of swaths of public land, sagebrush-speckled ranches and the serenity of the mountains.

But if economic diversity is important to the future of the state’s economy, people need to have a discussion about what they value, Bruns said.

Wyoming has good schools, safety and quality of life in its corner. Retaining those virtues while creating an environment for business development — a culture that helps young people want to stay in the state — will be the challenge.

An example for how to foment that growth is nearby. Years ago the business leaders of Denver focused on turning their city into a place where a young workforce could thrive, on the assumption that businesses would follow people, Bruns said.

It worked.

However, the pendulum swings both ways. The massive increase in population, congestion and traffic in areas like Denver have started to lose their appeal in some cases, he said.

Watch this discussion.Stop watching this discussion.

(31) comments

We all knew that didn’t we? This city is one of the poorest in the country and there is no doubt in that. We know that even if they don’t do a study on it. I hope things will change one day and this city will rise to one of the best in the country. learn spanish online

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Thanks Mo, I'll see if I can find a copy on the Internet for free. I am sure I can find a copy in a pile of rubbish. But wait, he is looking for a 900,000 dollar house so we should be impressed with that I guess. You know what impresses me is hard working people who have sacrificed and given up a lot to make WY what it is today, WY natives know exactly what I mean when I say that we have always had down times in the economical aspect, but with hard working people who make up the majority of our population we will see prosperity again. Wy will come out of this depression and be the coldest, windiest paradise that I love. We are survivors.

Wyoming has been on the bottom rung of the ladder so long that they have forgotten what got them there in the first place. We have depended on the generosity of someone else so long, it may be difficult to understand how the economic system works in other parts of the U.S. Turn economic decision making over to a few interest groups, be it livestock, oil & gas, railroads, or the U.S. government and we should expect to live in the situation that they prefer. When these interests bump into the realities of national and world markets, they do what is best for their bottom line; they have no institutional history or conscience spelled WYOMING. Then, we have continued to develop expedient political solutions to complex economic problems every time we get dumped by the movers and shakers. We have let someone else other than our citizens pay our taxes. We have divvied up our resources because it was quicker and easier than fostering home grown talent and building infrastructure for expanding frontiers. We sent our best brains down the road and spent tax dollars supporting industries we knew were going to fade when the market told them to go elsewhere. At the moment, we seem to be betting that we can put a band aid on the coal industry when other forms of carbon are winning the day. West Virginia has a better chance of getting a response out of Congress than Wyoming because the coal companies know that customers, not producers, and certainly not the owners call the dance, and because Wyoming is politically "in the bag," and competing like mad with our neighbors to save our behinds.

Outhouse, glad to hear you're getting out of Wyoming. Can you just promise one thing, stop laying your liberal rants in our news paper you're not impressing anyone. As for us we will be here working hard, shooting guns and loving freedom. So good luck and most of all, GOOD RIDDANCE! One more thing why don't you share the title of your "novel". I need something to entertain me while I'm making $2400 dollars a day ensuring that you and the rest of the country have what it needs for the journey that we are about to embark in, you know the one where we make America GREAT again.

Ted Kaczynski ? Is that you? Please take your Manic Manifesto to a state that cares . . . you have plenty on the coasts to choose from. Better yet, airfare is reasonable to China, Cuba, and North Korea.

In July 2000, Governor Geringer's chief of staff, Rita Meyer, telephoned a VP at the UW and threatened him with "loss of support": if the UW -dared- begin a course of research that I had proposed (and was of interest to three VP's at UW and also three companies the size of SONY). Why? "UW lacks proper state authority." I was so impressed to find that I was living in a communist hellhole Hungary 1956, where the governor's komisar could tell the university what to research... I wrote a novel by 2009 that predicted the rise of a fascist GOP populist (named Gallagher, after Geringer) who would engage the American warstate in armed conflict to ensure global access to world resources...backed up with ONE PARTY RULE. Back in 2000, the Wyoming Business Council was a lapdog for Geringer, who was its chairman. He decided what was good for himself...then Wyoming (his first job afterwards was with a tech company that had "proper state authority." In 2010 or so, I was sitting next to a woman at UW as we waited 90 minutes for the scum speaker Ann Coulter to arrive late. This woman from Powell (where there is a community college) says to me, "I hate Laramie. They teach values that are not Wyoming." Moron outhouse Wyoming, digging its elitist GOP brainwash that growth is bad, people are bad and that being impoverished, unemployed and able to go hunting and fishing with assault rifles and "freedom" is the mana from Heaven...is why I'm leaving the outhouse for good. I'll work with another university , in another state. I'll be rich and famous and know that the technology I invent (all I will say is that it's based on mathematically invariant transduction of brainwaves) will change the world for the better on the scale of Marconi. I will no longer be in charge of giving $300,000 a year to Laramie non profits. I will no longer benefit the state of Wyoming in any way. I will spit this birthplace of mine goodbye. I don't need Anbar Province to know who I am and what I can be. I'll let you 2nd Amendment coal and USAF war-mongering racist and liberal haters inbreed forever. Toodles. Sorry I'm still here, but finding the right $900,000 home, while putting a holographic cinema funding package together in London, writing a trilogy and doing brainwave research all takes a little time. My last investion was Molecular Economics. War guru D-ick Cheney thanked me and did nothing. Two Chinese universities and the ministry of Commerce in beijing downloaded it for 10 months. I know I have unleashed a tool on the world that will change the course of human history. But it's in Chinese hands, boys and girls. You lose again because you believe in people like Cheney. I really respect Cheyenne economic development, it's Chamber of Commerce and LEADS (which is based on Pueblo CO's recovery). The rest of Wyoming spits at Cheyenne and calls it "Denver light."

What makes me laugh about all of this is that fact that people like you continue to complain about how cheyenne needs to grow and become become more friendly to our youth. If you want change so bad move I'm sure you would fit in great In a liberal place like Colorado or California.there are still some of us who enjoy living in a little town with nothing going on. If you want jobs in cheyenne here is an idea if you don't live here you don't work here.if you love Colorado so much work there...or are there no more jobs because of gross over population. Or maybe there all to high to think clearly who knows. All I know for sure is I'm 26 years old I was born and raised in this town and I had no issues keeping entertained or employed.I think our city is fine as is and I know a large number of people who would agree

I was born and raised in Cheyenne and it grew without the Wyoming Business Council or Leads. Why because we were proud of that town, and the small businesses that thrived there, which employed a lot of the youth. Look truly look at these small communities, not Casper and you will see that their infrastructures are decaying, growth is stagnated, and are support not on the inner structure but the outside. Most are on the governmental payroll, or corporate pay scales of oil fields, natural gas or wind energy. As for Ranching it is becoming a myth today, because the rich have discovered corporate Ranching, so most of the employees and families are hired hands, its called working for the Man. The system in Carbon County is two major communities Rawlins, Saratoga, with Baggs bring up the rear. The other communities lets just say are sub-burbs of the county. As for leaving that is a cop-out excuse for not making changes...

Typical Wyoming response "move if you don't like it" well it seems that not very many people like it per the huge drop in population. After reading your answer I see why companies will not move to Wyoming.

If you're in Michigan, I love Detroit and hope the post Kilpatrick mess restores funding and growth. I worked with a retired federal judge and the US State Dept financial crimes task force to identify how Kilpatrick got the money he looted to Switzerland. I even found the tail number of the private jet. Go Detroit!

And I am one of them. What you liberals call progressive are "choice", "spread the wealth" "universal health care" "gun control", a government run state, pretty much anything that the integrity of the Wyoming people stands for, liberals are trying to squash, Wyoming. Well guess what??? We dont want that way of life, thats why we live here, and yes if you dont like it....leave it! We who love Wyoming, dont want your kinda change.

Integrity of Wyoming people? Wyoming leads the nation in DUI's per capita, suicides per capita, smoking per capita, prisoners per capita, gun crimes per capita, bars per capita, and the list just keeps on going! Liberals are not trying to squash Wyoming, news flash, Wyoming is already squashed.

...and we'll stay there as long as WY voters think that "GOP" is a synonym for "competence." Wyoming is in desperate need of balance, new ideas, and debate. The same old song and dance isn't cutting it.

2,000 in Cheyenne seeking work.... likely not many with BS/BA degrees, few with MA/MS/MBA degrees, and none with MD or PhD degrees. The numbers are too low to be attractive to employers and the skill set too low.

Really you consider such an article a shocker, take Wyoming back to 2014 and who was bragging. Your Lead's and Wyoming Business councils are consultants that bleach the bones of government on taxpayers money producing little.. Wyoming economic diversity is not controlled by the factors mentioned, but the willingness to change and fear of chance by one's choice.. Just look at our stupid voting records and whining after each election. Nothing changed this year now did it same old crackers in the Barrel of Wyoming Greed on fossil fuels as the world passes our younger generations which seek their lifestyles..

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